


Little Ole Shack

by Sonderling



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: 1930s, Alternate Universe - 1930s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Great Depression, Historical, I may be persuaded to write more to this one, Mentions of WW1, One Shot, Rey Needs A Hug (Star Wars), Reylo - Freeform, Soft Ben Solo, Star Wars: The Last Jedi Throne Room Scene, for now, vague mentions of prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27492175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sonderling/pseuds/Sonderling
Summary: If you go and listen to the song "Joshua" by the one and only Dolly Parton, that's basically this story, I just added a few bits.But seriously go listen to the song, it's great.  Even if you don't really like country music, you'll see why I had to make a fic based on it.  It is hands down the most Reylo song I've ever heard.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	Little Ole Shack

**Author's Note:**

> I have exactly one kind of story I like to tell, and that is two people gently falling in love.

Loneliness is a powerful motivation. Everyone knows how anger and love can drive folks to do things they never seemed capable of, for good or ill. Oftentimes loneliness gets overlooked as one of these powerful motivating emotions, but it’ll drive folks to do all kinds of crazy things, given the time. 

Rey could taste the dust in her mouth as her feet crunched up the rocky road towards the ramshackle little house on the hill. She hoped against hope that the villainous man who lived there would have lemonade, but as she got closer, she didn’t think that would be the case. There was an old pick-up truck with the hood propped up, a dirty rag tossed onto the fender. Empty beer bottles were nestled here and there amongst the weeds. The porch was propped up on cinder blocks, and as she passed through the tumble down gate, she could hear a low growl and the rattle of a chain as a huge black dog dragged himself out of the shade. She shivered, out of the corner of her eye it had looked like a bear on a chain. He obviously was not too happy about executing his duties as guard dog during the heat of the day. Rey slowed her approach, but one deep down growl and bark stopped her in her tracks. She was still aways from the shack, having not even reached what might be called the front walkway. A clatter and mumbled swearing emanated from inside the shack.

“Chewie, what the hell you on about- Who are you?!”

A tall, wild looking man slapped the screen door open. 

He’s just about the biggest man I ever laid eyes on. Rey thought to herself. 

He was wearing a dirty undershirt, and pants that were once slacks, held up by suspenders. The cuffs were frayed around his dirty bare feet. Dark, mean looking eyes flashed at Rey through a tangle of long black hair. An equally unkempt black goatee framed his mouth, which was set in a determined line. The dog and owner seemed to make up a matching set, both large, black haired, and mean by default. 

“I don’t take kindly to trespassers on my property.” He snapped, there was a threatening edge to his voice that rang out in the hazy summer air.

“Who said anything about trespassing?” Rey tried to keep her tone cheery and bright, but she feared a little panic may have slipped through. “This here is a neighborly call.”

“Neighborly.” The tall man deadpanned. Rey flattered herself that she had a natural gift for winning people over, but this was going to be an uphill battle. She took a half step towards the shack and Chewie let out another bark, only this one had some teeth behind it. The tall man rolled his eyes.

“Chewie, git gone!” The dog turned around and looked at his human companion. Assured at his dismissal, he happily crawled back under the porch to continue cooling his belly in the dirt.

“Now why are you snooping around up here anyways?” Rey took that to be as good an invitation as any. The man’s dog may have something to back up his bark, but upon further study, the man just seemed more shy than anything. His arms were crossed over his chest and he hadn’t pushed the hair out of his face. He seemed to be trying to curl his massive figure in on himself. Rey flashed him one of her most winning smiles as she stomped assuredly onto the porch. 

“My name’s Rey!” Rey extended her hand and peeked up through her lashes at the man. Rey knew that nine times out of ten people will go along with social norms, rather than make a situation more awkward. This was not one of those times. 

“Well pull up a chair, since you’re already here,” the man said as he turned away from her extended hand to go back inside the shack. Rey walked across the gap ridden boards of the porch to sit on the solitary old kitchen chair in the dark corner. She glanced between her feet to see Chewie looking up at her through the loose planks. He looked a little surprised.

“I take it not many folks have made it this far, huh?” Rey whispered to him. Chewie harrumphed and spread his belly further into the cool dirt. The corner of the porch Rey found herself in was overgrown with bushes and therefore as cool as a person could get on a scorching hot day. The sun beat down without a scrap of cloud in the sky. It shone so bright it seemed like all the color had just been burned away from the landscape. On days this hot, the cicadas and grasshoppers were almost deafening. Most folks got so used to it they didn’t even hear it anymore, but as Rey sat, she started to notice all the little chirps and shrill sounds the bugs made all around her. The air was almost completely still and thick with the smell of pine sap. That first cool fall evening would be welcome indeed. Leaning back in the old chair, which was much more comfortable than it looked, Rey started to wonder if the man had just ceded the front porch of his own home to a total stranger. If that was the case, she didn’t think she’d even care. Sitting in front of a strangers house was preferable to being around the gossips and busybodies of town. Rey was well aware that the loneliest place a person could find themselves is usually full of people. The bugs, trees and Chewie’s snoring would be her companions. Rey had leaned back with her eyes closed when she heard the slap of the screen door and a chair being dragged out onto the porch.

“M’name’s Ben,” the man said, without looking up from fussing about a second chair he placed on the opposite side of the porch, the front door of the shack between them. Rey tried not to stare, but it sure looked like he may have tried to drag a comb through his mess of hair. The poor guy was obviously shy, making the effort that much more admirable and Rey knew better than to draw attention to it. 

“Well,l Ben, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance!” Rey smiled, sitting up straight with her hands in her lap. She tried to radiate friendliness and openness. Everything about Ben begged to be left alone, except for the weary eyes looking up at her. His feet were still bare and he sat with one stacked on top of the other. He sat hunched up in his chair, a habit picked up by anyone who was made to feel awkward about being so tall at a young age. His arms were still crossed over his chest, and his shoulders were slouched forward. As much as he tried to look at the floor, his eyes kept darting up to Rey who kept her dimpled smile locked in place. Conventions of conversation would dictate that it was Ben’s turn to talk, but there was a rising panic in his eyes. Rey relaxed back into her chair, slinging on leg over the other.

“Ahh, this summer heat is something else, doncha think?”

Ben gave a stuttering laugh.

“What?” Said Rey, genuinely confused.

“I’m sorry,” said Ben, hiding half his face behind one massive hand. “I’m so bad at small talk, I just never know what to say, and I can’t ever seem to be interested in what other people have to say.”

Rey giggled. “Well okay then. The only thing worse than sitting in this damn heat is having to sit around and talk about it.”

This got a smile and a laugh out of Ben. He braced his hands on his knees and looked her square in the face for the first time.

“How in the hell did you end up out here? I know what people say about me, I know I got a bit of a reputation. Surely you’ve been in town long enough to have heard about me.” He seemed to Rey that he was throwing down a challenge. Perhaps she hadn’t heard about the mean man sitting by the train tracks and he would get to scare her off, making a mockery of all this niceness and neighborly treatment she tried to bring on his property. Rey met his eyes without flinching, she smiled, but this smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“I know your name is Ben Solo, you’re mean as a snake and you killed your daddy in cold blood.” Rey never blinked, turning her glance to look out to the road, “Allegedly.”

Ben raised an eyebrow and leaned forward slightly.

“You ain’t afraid to sit in the middle of nowhere with an alleged murderer?” He said in a low growl, only this time there was no threat behind it. Rey smiled and laughed.

“Course not!”

“Why.”

“Ain’t got no reason to. If I can sit here unafraid in the middle of a situation where I out to be afraid, but I ain’t, obviously I know something about said situation.” Ben quirked an eyebrow, obviously confused. “The truth of it is that I can just tell that you ain’t what folks say you are. I can read people better than I can read books.” Rey said with confidence. 

“Well then maybe I ought to be afraid of you.” said Ben. It was Rey’s turn to be uncomfortable now. Of course, lots of folks would say that decent men ought to steer clear of her. There was no telling who else could get dragged down by a fallen woman, or how deep she would take you. She tossed her bouncy curls, and changed the subject abruptly.

“You ever get the walkin’ blues?” she asked, hoping he didn’t notice the tiny quaver that had snuck into her voice.

“What’s that?”

“Walkin’ blues is when you find yourself in such a state that you can’t help but to just take off walkin’. It don’t even matter what direction you’re goin’ in, so long as it’s away from wherever you are presently.” Rey kept her eyes on the dusty road in front of Ben’s bedraggled gate. He stayed quiet for a while. Rather than calling her a silly headed woman, who would do such a foolish thing, he let her words sink in.

“No.” He said, his deep voice sounded gravely. “I guess I do whatever the opposite of that is.”

“Sittin’ blues?” Said Rey.

“Sittin’ in an old shack keepin’ people away blues.”

The two sat in silence for a while, watching a butterfly making it’s tipsy way across the front yard. Rey sighed and began to absentmindedly fan herself with her little handbag, not that it did much good. Ben looked up and blinked at her. Without saying a word, he got up, placed a hand on the rickety railing of his porch and vaulted over it landing in a cloud of dust. He walked over to an old well in the far corner of the front yard and began hauling up a rope. Rey was intrigued to say the least. At last he produced a bucket at the end of the rope and inside the bucket clinked bottles of beer. He took two and lowered the bucket back down as quickly as he dared. He shambled back up to the porch, squinting in the bright sunlight. He popped both beers upen the lids landing in a considerable pile next to the steps. 

“Here ya go,” he said with a lopsided grin. Rey took the bottle with glee.

“Oh it's so nice and cold!” Indeed, in the afternoon heat, the bottle felt like an icicle to Rey. She closed her eyes and pressed the bottle to her neck. She didn’t see the way Ben’s eyes widened, or how his mouth went a little slack as the condensation mixed with sweat and ran down her neck, then across her collar bone. He hurried back to his seat, taking a long swig from his own bottle.

“Come on now, it won’t do you any good if you keep it in the bottle.” He said. Rey sipped her beer, utterly content. Nothing had ever been so refreshing.

“You have a well of beer on your property? That could make you a very rich man you know.”

“The water’s no good for drinking, but boy is it ever cold.” Ben said, grinning down at Rey’s obvious enjoyment.

“So what gave you the walkin' blues?” Ben tried to sound nonchalant.

“Well, I guess I owe you a bit of explanation, after the very welcome hospitality.” Rey looked down through the floorboards again. Chewie was fast asleep, a little puddle of mud growing where he was drooling.

“I have been in town for a while now, but I seem to have ruffled some feathers along the way. The people who were tellin’ me ‘bout how you were such a bad man were the same people who were makin’ me feel so unwelcome. It just got me wondering if everything they said about you was true.”

“Well?” asked Ben.

“Well what?” Rey looked over at Ben, there was that lopsided grin again.

“Did they tell you the truth about me?”

“They didn’t tell me you have the coldest beer in town, if that had been the case I’d been over here months ago!”

That was good enough for Ben. He was well aware of the lurid tales that hung in the air every time he showed his face. Someday, when he is old and grey, surely small children will be daring each other to walk up to his house. After all, every small, southern town needs a boogie man. 

“And you let those old busy bodies shut you out?” Ben couldn’t imagine a girl like Rey being pushed around too easily. How could the ladies of the town be more intimidating than him? Rey’s face was etched with frustration. 

“Ohh, you know. . .” she trailed off.

“Act like I don’t.” He hated to see her brows scrunched up with frustration.

“I got into town a while ago and things were going okay, but people hear something about you, and rather than ask you themselves, they just talk more and more amongst each other until-” Rey couldn’t go on. She couldn’t tell him what she was afraid of admitting to herself. That she hadn’t run far enough to escape her past, that all the work she’d put into starting over hadn’t been enough and that she was wondering just how many do-overs a person got in one lifetime. She tried to laugh and lighten the mood.

“I think it has a little to do with how I look. People don’t like a bottle blond around here.” Ben’s eyebrows went straight up. As if Rey’s hair was the only thing that set her apart from everyone else. Her nails were shapely and shellacked in a very appealing shade of coral. Her blonde hair, while tossed up in a bandana to keep it off her neck, was still brushed and curled into an appealing updo. Her lashes were thick with mascara and her lips were expertly lined and matched to her nails. While most girls wore loose blouses and shapeless skirts, the neckline of Rey’s thin blouse skimmed wide across her collar bone, and her skirt, while long, just barely skimmed over her hips and bum. The overall effect was that of making her figure very easy to see, without showing much skin at all.. The only incongruity was the thoroughly beat up pair of canvas shoes she wore with the socks sagging down around her ankles.

“Where exactly do girls look like you?” Ben didn’t want to seem like he was prying, but the more he talked to Rey, the more questions he had.

“Oh I’d bet you’d like to know!” She shot back, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Ben played along, anything to keep a smile on her face.

“You bet I’d like to know, I’ve spent most of my life in this town, and if you could point me in the direction of wherever the hell you’ve just come from I’d be much obliged!”

“If you must know, I’m from a bunch of places, most recent being Dallas.” Rey took another sip of her beer.

“Dallas! Boy that’s a proper big city! How’s a girl like you make it all alone in a place like that?” At that, Rey burst out laughing. Ben’s expression went from perplexed to mildly offended as she laughed and laughed.

“Oh brother, have I heard that one before, but I can tell you don’t mean it like that.” 

“What do you mean?” Said Ben. He had a feeling his small town sensibilities were showing.

“It’s just, well, it sounds like a line men out there use when they think they can get something from a girl. You know, ‘what's a girl like you doing in a place like this. . .’” Rey looked for a glimmer of understanding on Ben’s features. It got there, eventually.

“Oh, ah, I see.” He shuffled his feet, feeling awkward again. “And before Dallas? Where’d you grow up?”

Rey sighed, trying to decide how much to share with Ben. She liked talking with him, and people always treated her differently the more they knew about her childhood. Looking over at Ben’s face, open and trusting, she knew she couldn’t lie to him, but she wanted him to know who she was now, or rather, who she was trying to be. So, she would do her best to avoid lying, but she’d be damned if she told the whole truth. 

“I grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, left after I was done with school.” True, never said I graduated, just said I was done with school. 

“How about you? Have you always been here?” Rey was anxious to move the conversation forward.

“Yeah. . .” Ben’s knuckles had grown white around his beer bottle, but then he loosened his grip and flexed his hand. “Spent a little time in France though, from ‘17 to ‘18.”

“Oh!” Rey wasn’t normally at a loss for words, but this sure shut her up. She couldn’t help but look at him in a totally new light, a realization that made an ungly little knot of guilt tie up in her stomach. 

Ben looked over and saw the tenderness in Rey’s eyes. Usually he hated that look on other people, but she made it look genuine. Perhaps this time it was. She shifted in her chair, draping one arm over the back of her chair, searching his face all over.

“Why, you couldn’t have been very old. . .” she said. Ben laughed humorlessly.

“I lied. I’ve always been tall, and I didn’t have to lie too much. I was just turned 17, so when I told them I was already 18 nobody batted an eye.” He tilted his head back, the last of his beer tragically gone. “Found out later that my parents could have gotten me out, said I lied and joined without their consent. I thought about it, I’m not gonna lie to you, thought about it a lot. It was awful over there. But I just couldn’t write that letter. I stuck it out.” 

Rey opened her mouth to speak, but no words came to her rescue. Perhaps it was better to keep her mouth shut. She looked over to see Ben smiling, inexplicably.

“The first time I fell in love was in England.” He was grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh?” Rey was so relieved to be back in lighter territory.

“Yup. I got so sick in France, body and mind. I don’t even remember the war ending, I was just burning up with fever. I do, however, remember every minute in that army hospital in the countryside. There was this nurse, my oh my!” Ben’s eyes had glazed over completely as the memories came flooding back. “You know what the first thing I noticed about her was?”  
Rey giggled.

“Oh stop it.” Ben was still grinning. “It was her hands. She had the softest, nicest hands. She would wake me up by placing her hand on my cheek. But then my fever broke and I opened my eyes. She was a knockout, let me tell you.”

“That was very sweet of her, I’m sure it couldn’t have been easy, that kind of work.”

“No, it wasn’t.” Ben looked down at his feet again. Rey wondered if there was anything in the world the two of them could talk about that didn’t lead to sad memories.

“There was one day, I was all better, getting ready to leave. I came across her in a corner of the garden. My dumbass thought that maybe I had a shot with her. But when she turned, I saw her eyes were all red. I couldn’t say anything, just walked over and sat next to her. You know what she said to me? She apologized. She said all the girls try so hard not to cry in front of the boys. For all the ones who get better, she’s seen so many slip away in the night. She put her face in her lovely hands and cried and told me she’d had no idea what to expect when she volunteered, and how no one told her that she would have to look boys in the eye and tell them she was going to make sure they made it home to their mamas, even as their hands grew cold in hers.” Ben gnawed on his lower lip. “I knew then how she saw me. I was one of many, but she couldn’t look past all the ones she couldn’t help and there was nothing I could do to make that pain go away. I put my arm around her and let her cry. When she was done, I thanked her for everything she’d done for me, for all of us. I can only hope that sharing the hurt made her feel at least a little better. I never saw her again.”

Rey sat awash in her own thoughts. How on earth could this man be one in the same with the alleged murderer shunned by the town? Rey looked out into the yard and noticed that the sun was a bit lower in the sky. Evening was approaching, but it brought no relief from the day’s heat. At least the sun couldn’t hurt a person’s eyes anymore. Chewie rustled underneath the porch. Ben looked over at the big shaggy beast.

“Shoot, Chewie’s gonna be wanting his supper.” Rey stretched her legs and realized how long she’d been sitting in one spot. 

“You got a powder room?”

Ben stood and stretched so tall his palms touched the tin roof of the porch. He chuckled.

“Of sorts. Just go out the back door and follow the path, you’ll know when you get there.”

Rey thanked him and quickly made her way through the little house. If she’d blinked, she would have missed it, but the beer was letting her know there really was no time for snooping. She couldn’t help but smile to herself. Country folks always thought it was so funny making the big city girl use an old fashioned outhouse. She’d seen, and used, far more shocking facilities. It took a lot to get Rey to clutch her pearls, if indeed she even had any pearls left to clutch. One thing city folks always forgot was the amount of privacy outhouses afforded a person. Plenty of country people blanched when they learned that people actually kept such things within the walls of their own houses. There was something to be said for being left to your own company in nature when nature called. 

Inside the kitchen, if you could call it that, she found Ben rummaging around a narrow pantry that stood next to a pot bellied stove. The stove was cold, as cold as it could be in this heat, even though it was getting on to supper time. She peeked around Ben’s broad frame and saw that there was so little in his pantry he may as well have lined the contents up on his window sill.

“Whatcha fixen for Chewie?”

Ben startled and turned around, trying to block her view of the pantry.

“Beans.” he looked cornered. Rey tried to peek around.

“What are you having for supper?”

“Beans.” He said flatly. He looked out the window above his kitchen sink “And tomatoes.”

“Let me cook for you!” No one west of the Mississippi would herald Rey as a cook, but she was confident she could hold her own against a can of beans. 

“Uhhh. . .” Ben looked confused. “Do you make it a habit to just invite yourself into folks’ lives?”

Rey felt a little stung by that. Perhaps she had gone a little too far. Times were tough for everyone, but everyone had their own way of dealing with things. She shrunk back.

Ben’s mind raced. 

“It’s uh, it’s just that I don’t have a whole lot. I don’t know what you could properly make. This is very much a bachelor’s kitchen after all.” Rey looked up at him. Perhaps all was not lost.

“You’ve got a lot of bits and pieces, if we ran to the store real quick I could pick up a couple things. . . That vegetable garden looks plenty healthy.”

Ben stared down at her

“People are going to have something to say, seeing us together doing shopping, you sure you’re okay with that?.”

“Oh so let them talk. Do you think you could stand up to some gossip in exchange for cornbread?”

Ben pursed his lips.

“Fresh cornbread and greens?”

He raised an eyebrow.

“Fresh cornbread, greens, and some kind of pie?”

“Well what are we waiting around here for?” Ben turned and was already making his way out the front door.

“Ben where do you think you’re going? You are in your undershirt and bare feet!” Rey stood on the porch and hollered after him as he stepped onto the running board of his old farm truck.

“Woman! I’ll let you cook for me, but I’ll be damned if you think you can come up here and start bossin’ me around! You comin’ or not?” He had the door of the truck open, he was half in, half out.

“Shirt! Shoes!” She crossed her arms and planted her feet in a wide stance.

“Oh hell, one or the other! I got a reputation to maintain around here you know!” He was shouting gustily, enjoying this a little too much. Rey decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. She wiped off one shoe and then the other, then her socks and stood there in her bare feet. She was a little regretful, the wood of the porch was rough indeed, she tried not to think about how calloused his feet must be to walk around without noticing. 

“You got a little further to go before we’re on the level!” Ben hollered. He plucked one strap of his suspenders and waggled his eyebrows.

Rey shrieked, feigning affront. She picked up one shoe and tossed it at his head. He swatted it away easily. 

“Come on! That pie ain’t gonna make itself!” He cranked the truck to violent life and swung it around in front of the porch. Rey heaved open the heavy door and swung onto the beat up bench seat. Ben looked over and grinned at her. She raised an eyebrow and wiggled her bare toes at him in response. 

When the pair returned home with their meagre supplies, Rey set about the kitchen. Ben was obviously not overly burdened with domestic cares. A large pot and small pot would have to get comfy next to each other on the small pot bellied stove. His one kitchen knife was almost dangerously dull. Luckily, he had an old pie dish. It was probably the nicest thing in the whole kitchen. Rey dug it out from the bottom recess of his pantry and held it up to the light, admiring it. It was a heavy, cut glass affair. A little chipped from much use, but well cared for. Ben looked up from where he was trying to start the stove fire.

“Oh,” he muttered sheepishly, “That belonged to my grandma. She was a very elegant lady, I never met her, but everyone always said how she had such nice things.”

“I’ll say, it's beautiful!” said Rey, “I hope my measly pie can live up to whatever she made in such a nice dish.” Ben didn’t reply, he just smiled to himself and bent down to the stove again. Soon he had enough flame for Rey to cook down the chopped onion with the nubbin of bacon she had splurged on. While at the store, Ben had insisted that she didn’t need to spoil him so and she had agreed, but as soon as his back was turned, she ran back to the butcher's counter and got the scrap of meat. As the smell of caramelized onions and bacon wafted through the shack, Ben and Chewie both perked up. They were starting to circle like vultures when Rey pulled the charred but edible corn bread out of the belly of the stove. Rey tossed in the collard greens she’d harvested from Ben’s little garden and cooked them down as the beans simmered happily away. There were three rumbly tummies by the time Rey slapped together three plates worth of greens, cornbread and baked beans. Ben had gone back out to his well and when he sat down at his tiny dining table, he looked like he didn’t know where to start. Chewie, on the other hand, knew exactly where to start and contented slobbering noises quickly rose from the ground. 

“Well?” Rey looked apprehensive, maybe this wasn’t so appetising as she had thought while she was making it. “Try it before you pass judgment.”

Ben’s attention snapped up.

“Oh! No. . .” He chuckled, “I was just trying to remember the last time I bothered cooking anything for myself.” And with that he happily dug into the meal before him. But Rey couldn’t help herself.

“I’m sorry I didn’t think to get anything to go with the cornbread, I know it got a little dry.” Ben looked her in the eye and took a monstrous bite of the crumbly cornbread. He put a hand on his heart and moaned with ecstasy. When he finally swallowed, it was after all very dry corn bread, he exclaimed with all seriousness.

“Manna straight from heaven!” he declared. Rey smiled.

“And the greens? I thought maybe I added too much salt.” Rey gestured with her beat up fork.

Ben took a heaping bite of greens, chewing with his eyes closed, as if it were too much of a delicacy for him.

“Absolutely delicious.” Ben looked over at Rey. “I don’t know what you’re worried about, woman, I haven’t had what you’d call a proper meal in a long time. This may as well be Christmas dinner for me and Chewie. I will take credit for these beans though,” He said, taking a healthy forkful.

“All you did was open the can!” exclaimed Rey. “That doesn’t count for anything.”

It didn’t take long for everyone to absolutely clean their plates, and in the case of Chewie, get a head start on washing up the pots. Ben sat with a contented look on his face. He clinked his beer bottle to Rey’s and they drank to a meal enjoyed. 

“Now would ya just look at that sunset.” said Ben, rising from the table. The sun was golden and just starting to slip below the horizon. Rey looked out the back door to see the golden sky through the thicket of trees behind Ben’s property. She was a little surprised to realize the hours had vanished in the company of an almost total stranger. Ben walked out and down the stairs, sitting himself down in a patch of grass. Without a second thought, Rey got up and joined him. The grass felt nice and cool between her toes, Rey hadn’t bothered to replace her shoes and socks, which were currently strewn across Ben’s front porch. The idea of someone else seeing them there made her giggle.

“It's going to take me a minute to throw that pie together.”

Ben grunted in reply.

“It might not be finished until night.” 

Again, Ben merely grunted.

“I ought to at least get up and throw the crust together.”

Ben nodded, knowingly.

“I don’t even know what I’m going to put in it, if I’m honest.”

Ben turned to look at Rey, grinning without saying a word.

“But I think I’m just going to sit here a minute, that sunset is so nice after all.” She sighed, it really was beautiful.

“Now that sounds like a plan.” Said Ben. He leaned back on his elbows and let his long legs sprawl out into the grass. The wildman was in his element, completely unembarrassed at the state of his dress and hair, content to feel the first cool breeze of the day on his face and listen to the chorus of insects sing their exaltation to the dying light. Rey could help herself. She stared at him openly as he lay before her with his eyes closed. His hair was dirty, but beneath the grime it was obviously very thick. It just needed a little care and attention, just like the rest of him. The lines of his face, while perhaps not classically handsome, were perhaps better for it. Rey couldn’t help but feel herself being drawn in to study his face from every angle, and each time find something new she liked about it. Beneath his threadbare undershirt she could see the lines of his bulky chest and further still, his tree trunk like legs in his battered trousers. The trousers were held up entirely by the suspenders, and hung loosely around his hip bones as he lay in the grass. Rey couldn’t help but think how nice it would be to curl up with him. It had been a long time since she had enjoyed the simple pleasure of cuddling with a man, with no other obligations attached. 

“What was your mother like?” Ben asked gently after a long silence. He had seemed lost in thought, and Rey didn’t want to intrude. 

“I honestly have no idea. My earliest memories are of the orphan home. I must have been very little when I ended up there.” Rey surprised even herself, being so open. Thinking back, she had never spelled out her past so simply to another person.

“I like to imagine that she was a flapper, silly and glamorous.” Rey smiled into the sunset, thinking back to magazine advertisements she used to see as a girl. Rey continued in a gentle voice, “I would study the ads carefully, picking out the prettiest woman in them and imagining that she was my mother. Surely she had a dazzling smile and dimpled cheeks.” Ben looked at Rey, but she didn't see the concerned look on his face. Her eyes were on the sunset, but she was looking past it's golden haze; trying to look into the past for a happy memory. She did have a simply fantastic smile, Ben thought. It had disarmed him completely when he first saw her standing at the edge of his property. Up close he was helpless to resist. Every time he saw her smile, he knew he just had to see another. All the better if he could be the one responsible. But he could see a far away look swallowing Rey up. It was as though the shine had left her eyes. Ben was desperate to change the subject, anything to bring Rey back to the present with him. 

“You don’t seem to be worried about this whole Depression thing.” said Ben, waving a hand through the air. Ben's ineptitude at small talk made itself evident once more. 

“No, see I have an advantage over everyone. I’ve been scrabbling for what I can lay hands on since the beginning. Way I see it, this whole mess just brought everyone down to my level.” Rey laughed, the corners of her eyes crinkling. 

After the sun had set, lightning bugs came out, and as it was finally starting to cool off, Ben insisted that they stay out and enjoy it. 

“But I promised to make you a pie! At this rate I won’t be putting it together until after midnight!” Rey protested, she stood over him with her hands on her hips.

Ben looked at her out of the corner of his eye. There was a lamp hanging from the back door casting Ben’s profile in golden light. “Did a witch put a spell on you? Do you have to bake me a pie tonight or else be turned back into a mouse or something?”

Rey laughed heartily. “A few hours ago you were fully prepared to chase me off your property like a fox outa the hen house, and now look! Night has fallen! If people thought that the two of us wandering barefoot through the grocery store was a sight, wait until they get a load of this!”

Ben hollered and scrambled up from the grass. He stood close to Rey, who tried to remain cool and collected. Standing this close to him, she reckoned he was well and truly the biggest man she had ever encountered. She stole a moment for herself. When has she last gazed on a man for her own enjoyment? Over time she had tried to notice as little as possible about the men who entered and quickly left her life. But this, this moment was just for her. To be able to appreciate the beauty of a man was a rare treat indeed. Rey gave a tiny gasp of surprise when he bent down to look her square in the eye. 

“Who. Cares.”

“I do!” Rey was feeling a little annoyed. Not at Ben, more so at the situation as a whole. She wanted so desperately to be able to blend in, but there she goes, running off and making a fool of herself with some man. Rey chewed her lip and dropped her eyes from Ben, though she didn't really want to look away. His gaze was so kind and steady. The shy giant she had met earlier had melted away, and in his place a man who was tall, gentle and kind. Could be anything more than an afternoon lark? She had felt like a kid again, out hunting for amusement on a long hot summer day. Without even realizing it, Rey had risked a lot in spending much time with Ben. Her future happiness in this dusty little town hung in the balance. Ben sighed and rocked back onto his heels. 

“I'm sorry, Rey.” He sounded gruff and uncomfortable. “I know folks haven't been terribly inviting to you and now you're probably all worried that they won't like you one bit for hangin around with me. Hell, no one's reputation could survive prolonged exposure, let alone someone they already decided to not like.” 

Against her will, Rey felt tears stinging the back of her eyes and a lump forming in her throat. Just then, she saw Ben extend a hand towards her. 

“I wouldn't want to presume anything. . .” His voice, though quiet, was firm. “but if I may humbly suggest, there ain't one opinion in that whole town that's worth gettin this upset over.” Rey looked up, a little puzzled as to what he was proposing. His hand was still extended and she could see such a depth of emotion in his eyes. Surely, this man was familiar with the paint of being an outcast. Yet, Rey couldn't bring herself to take his hand. Perhaps there was still a chance for her to finally find her place in the world. Going with Ben would mean turning down that chance no matter how small it was. 

“You can't hold out for them, Rey. Let go of their expectations and all the pain of not measuring up will go with it. Let the past die.” With that, Ben set his lips in a firm line. He'd said his peace, and it was up to Rey to make her choice.

“It feels like letting them win, it feels like giving up.”. Rey closed her eyes and let herself feel the full weight of everyone's expectations set on her shoulders. She lived in so many different places and she'd never been good enough for any of them. But in all the places she’d ever tried in vain to make her home, never once had anyone extended a hand in friendship to her. Rey clenched her fists at her side. She had no idea what would come next if she reached out and took Ben’s hand, but she was absolutely positive that there would be no going back. 

Rey’s eyes snapped open and before she had a chance to second guess herself, she grabbed Ben’s hand as though she was drowning. He looked at her with wide eyes.

“What are we doing?” Rey said, with a breathy, nervous laugh. Ben’s laugh boomed through the heavy night air.

“Hell if I know, I was kinda hoping you had an idea!” He smiled real big at Ray, joy dancing in his eyes. Rey reached out and placed her other hand on the back of his, holding it gently. His hand was so large and so warm. Sure, there were callouses from work, but he held her hand so gently, like it was a little bird he didn’t want to frighten. Whatever had come before this moment was not going to define what happened next. Whatever their future held, they were sure to build it together. 

Rey had to look away from his dark caramel eyes. She could see the light from the porch reflected in them, and something about seeing flames reflected in his dark eyes frightened her. 

“You’re more than welcome to stay here,” His voice was low and soft, “with me. Though I must admit I don’t have much in regards to creature comforts. Wasn’t expecting a lady as fine as yourself would ever be staying in this ole shack. But if you prefer, I can easily drive you back into town.”

“I ain’t that fine a lady. And just because I’ve given up on ever making the folks in town happy, that doesn’t mean I want to hear what they have to say about you driving me home in the middle of the night. I’ll stay here, with you.”

“Well okay then.” Ben Solo beamed at her in the dim lamplight. Still hand in hand, he turned to lead her into his dusty little shack.

**Author's Note:**

> There were plenty of young men who lied about their ages to join the army during WW1. Some as young as 15. It was entirely possible for parents to get their sons out of service, by saying they were too young and had joined up against their wishes. Many WW1 veterans were hard hit during the Great Depression, as they did not have any of the protections afforded to veterans today.


End file.
